Decision of Note: <b>Copyright Ruling On Suit Time, Damages</b>

In addition to its filing-period ruling, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed the principle that to recover actual damages and the infringer's attributable profits under 17 U.S.C. 504(b), a plaintiff must establish a causal link between infringement and the economic recovery sought. The appeals court then found sufficient evidence of lost licensing fees but called Polar Bear's claim of lost profits based on an alleged inability to fund the production of copies of the footage for individual sales too “pie-in-the-sky.” According to the court, “Although it is hypothetically possible that Polar Bear's business venture would have been more successful if it had greater access to cash, Timex's failure to pay license fees for the use of the footage was not the cause of Polar Bear's inability to put 10,000 copies of [the promotional footage] 'PaddleQuest' on the market. … Importantly, in 1995 Polar Bear had no knowledge of Timex's infringement and certainly could not have relied upon the prospect of payment for Timex's use of 'Paddle-Quest.' Indeed, had Polar Bear been aware of Timex's infringement at that time, its copyright claims would be barred under the 3-year limit imposed by 17 U.S.C. '507(b).”